Does Steam makes it easier to pirate single player HL2?

[Ownzed]

You can log into Steam with the same accout at the same time. The only thing you can't do is play on the same server if it's muliplayer.

 

[Solver]

You only own a license to the game, you don't OWN the game. So you agree to the license when buying the game. The "no-Steam" hack does connect to steam network, but doubtful, 10-15mb free would make the game better by 10fps...

Actually, HL2 will be a special case, I'm going to read through the license. I'm just curious if it really states somewhere that I should also be running Steam. Curiosity, you know.

 

[Cukel]

Wow, what have you done with you Steam, my takes currently 4 megs of ram. And its been online like ~2 days.

Anyway, I always thought that you couldnt exit Steam when playing games through it without some kind of hacking. 4MB doesnt make a difference and I like the automatic updates´n´shit.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

How far up your arm has poopstains on it from pulling that out of your ass?

What you said is simply not true, unless you have a great system and only 256 mb ram.

I've got 512mb on my pc's and used to have 1 gig on one pc, but it errored, anyways, steam hasn't really made a difference in my game play, I don't know what you guys are talking about, but you are all crazy.

 

[Javert]

Please, I just asked a question, if it was possible or not. Don't give moral lectures to show how smart you are, stick with the topic or please don't reply. Everyone knows piracy is bad. Thank you.

Watching headcrabs pwning other headcrabs is surprisingly entertaining. :cheers:

While it is possible to download HL2 to another computer with your log-in, if STEAM catches your two accounts playing at the same time, first, it won't allow it, second, 'Hasta la vista'.

 

[esbe]

However, forcing me to run some other software which is NOT the game I have paid for seems bad practice to me.

I really do sympathize with this argument, but to be honest it's very much analogous to arguing "How dare Mircrosoft FORCE me to run Explorer in order to run Windows. All I want to do is use a word processor and play Half-Life 2, not browse for files. If I WANT to browse for files, I'll open up Explorer when I feel like it and not before." So while I agree that your argument holds water in principle, the fact remains that Steam is integrated with the game so much that it practically IS the game. It's just basic infrastructure that you have to use.

 

[Eon Blue]

Yeah. It'd be like "How dare Microsoft force me to run Windows in order to" etc etc. People need to learn to live with Steam. My only complaint is the friends list. Everything else, I really do like.

 

[Solver]

I really do sympathize with this argument, but to be honest it's very much analogous to arguing "How dare Mircrosoft FORCE me to run Explorer in order to run Windows. All I want to do is use a word processor and play Half-Life 2, not browse for files. If I WANT to browse for files, I'll open up Explorer when I feel like it and not before." So while I agree that your argument holds water in principle, the fact remains that Steam is integrated with the game so much that it practically IS the game. It's just basic infrastructure that you have to use.

That is not correct technically, for one thing. Explorer is a bit more than file browsing. Second, I can easily shut Explorer down and work without it if I want to.

Steam is not integrated with HL2 because HL2 wouldn't work otherwise or would be uncovenient to play. Again, take the warez CSS version for example, it works without Steam, being standalone. CSS has hl2.exe. HL2 has hl2.exe. Both could very well work without Steam, if Valve wanted them to.

 

[dunawayc]

Second, I can easily shut Explorer down and work without it if I want to.

That would be difficult since, without Explorer, you lose your start menu, desktop, and taskbar. Unless you have installed an alternate shell.

 

[SystemShock2]

Yeah, right now my friend bought silver and he gave me his password and name until the game comes out and i can play cs source. So i'm using his account to play cs source until the game comes out at which point he will change his password.....that's not illegal is it? It's just like borrowing a game i think

 

[Solver]

True, though I don't use taskbar and start menu that much. I use the Run much more (old habits), though that's lost too without explorer. Taskbar - pfft, that's what alt+tab exists for.

Anyway, my point was that while Explorer is more critical to normal operation of Windows than Steam is to HL2, Explorer can be shut down, Steam can't. I'm glad that I typically use Linux anyway .

 

[Hyperion2010]

harder, yes i didnt read the thread, harder, becuase once they figure out that its pirated they get your IP etc and your account is terminated and then about a week later some guys in black glasses and grey suits how up at your door and procede to pull out a briefcase and drag your ass to court to be sued.

 

[Solver]

harder, yes i didnt read the thread, harder, becuase once they figure out that its pirated they get your IP etc and your account is terminated and then about a week later some guys in black glasses and grey suits how up at your door and procede to pull out a briefcase and drag your ass to court to be sued.

Nope, that would not be the case. Even legit users will be able to play HL2 while offline. Then, the warez version HL2 crack will actually be a no-Steam hack - making it so that you don't even need Steam or a Steam account to play.

 

[SpuD]

As far as I know and I’m not sure if anything’s changed yet but...

If you register your Half-Life 2 CD-Key to your Steam account online and then share your account information with someone else then you are risking your account being stolen. If you’re thinking of being cheeky buying one copy to share with a few friends it’s not going to work. Your account can only be used on one PC. If online when you log into a second computer with the same account that is running on the first, the Steam Ticket will invalidate on the first machine and transfer to the new session.

If you go into offline mode on one PC you are still logged in to Steam and anyone else trying to login with the same account details will not be able to validate a new Steam Ticket. Thus only one person can use one account on one PC at any one time.

Munro Johnson is right!

 

[Jaymz]

True, though I don't use taskbar and start menu that much. I use the Run much more (old habits), though that's lost too without explorer. Taskbar - pfft, that's what alt+tab exists for.

Anyway, my point was that while Explorer is more critical to normal operation of Windows than Steam is to HL2, Explorer can be shut down, Steam can't. I'm glad that I typically use Linux anyway .

Actually, you can still use Run without explorer. just use the Task Manager - File -> New Task (Run...) No need for Explorer. and with Run you can basically do anything you want.

And if Steam seems to hog too much memory, just give the bastard a low priority. If it wants a part of your RAM, it will just have to stand in line and wait for it to free up like a good little boy.

 

[Cole]

How dare microsoft make me run several scvhost.exes in order to maintain a connection. How dare microsof tmake me run system idle process or critical processors. How dare microsoft uses dos as the backbone for windows thus in relaity im running 2 things(Windows is based off of dos, it simply is a visual screen for dos).

How dare ATI make me run drivers in the background for me touse my gfx card. How dare msn messenger forces me to run the process of the main msn messenger background instead of just my current instant messages.

GET OVER YOURSELVES!
SURE STEAM USES SOME MEGABYTES, BUT GET OVER IT. STEAM IS GOOD, IT ALLOWS IM, BETTER SERVER BROWING, BETTER SERVER CATGORIZING, ETC... IF YOU HATE STEAM THEN JUST STFU, HAS ANYONE EVEN CHECKED HOW MUCH MEMORY PLUS VIRUTAL MEMORY IT TAKES TO RUN HL VS HOW MUCH MEMORY PLUS VIRUTAL MEMORY INCLUDING STEAM EVEN OUT? SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME.

GOD! IF "STEAM" IS BAD WELL NOT EVERYTHING IS PERFECT. IM ON A 56K, I WONT HAVE HIGH SPEED FOR A GOOD AMOUNT OF TIME. ITS NOT PERFECT SO GET OVER YOUR DAMN SELVES N GET WITH IT. IF I CAN DL A 600MEG FILE AND DELETE ON MY OL 56K WITHOUT COMPLAING I THINK YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO PLAY WITH STEAM WITHOUT COMPLAINING.

God! Sometimes!